Teams from across Indonesia developed innovative news prototypes based on the premise that news is becoming increasingly reported and consumed on mobile devices.

The Ethical Journalism Network’s communications officer, Tom Law attended the Global Editors Network’s Editors Lab in Indonesia to work with some of the country’s leading journalists and developers to produce the next generation of mobile news applications and platforms.

On 13-14 May 2016, GEN, AJI, in partnership with EJN and the Indonesian Press Council, with the support of Google, will gather leading media innovators from across Indonesia for a two-day hackathon to create innovative news prototypes.

Binus University International, in Jakarta, will play host to a collection of three-person teams from top media organisations across the country. Each team will consist of a journalist, a developer and a designer.

“This year’s Editors Lab is an important event to try out new ideas and see which one sticks”, said Wayhu Dhyatmika, investigative journalist at Tempo in an interview with GEN. “The media environment in Indonesia is highly competitive and each newsroom has been eager to showcase its strategy for conquering the digital world, so I believe it’s going to be an exciting and inspiring event, where everyone can learn from each other.”

The theme of the hackathon is “Mobile First News”: Indonesia’s population is becoming more and more connected, with mobile devices as the primary devices for many users. How can news organisations address and overcome the challenges that mobile news presents?

The Editors Lab will also feature speakers Jeanny Haliman, Rica Handayani, Felecia Handrawan (Google) and Tom Law (Ethical Journalism Network). The teams will also present their prototypes to a jury of media experts.

The Editors Lab programme is a worldwide series of hackdays hosted by leading news organisations. The winning team from each hackdays earns a spot in the two-day Editors Lab Final in June 2016 in Vienna, Austria. The winning team in Indonesia will have the opportunity to compete against peers from around the world on a truly global stage at the GEN Summit.

The winners from Indonesia will join winning teams from Finland, Romania, Tunisia, Argentina, Italy, Australia, Slovakia, Nigeria, Austria and China, to compete for the final prize at the Editors Lab Final in Vienna.